American Woodmark, MasterBrand Cabinets, and Cabinetworks Group have resigned from the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturer's Association because of a difference of opinion regarding trade matters.

The KCMA said that the three companies voted to leave the group after the KCMA board voted down their proposals to withdraw petitions regarding broadening the scope of inquiries into Chinese efforts to circumvent tariffs on wood cabinets and vanities by funneling their products through third-party countries.

The resignations occurred during the KCMA's fall conference in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The three cabinet companies are ranked in the FDMC 300, a listing of the largest wood products manufacturers in North America.

In a statement, the KCMA said: “[In] April 2020, in response to petitions filed by KCMA to combat unfairly traded imports from China, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders on wooden cabinets, vanities and components thereof (“WCV”) from China.  The relief provided by these orders to the domestic industry was being eroded by WCV that were made in China and then transshipped through Malaysia and Vietnam to the United States.  In April 2022, the KCMA requested that the Commerce Department conduct scope inquiries and anti-circumvention proceedings to address this problem and protect tens of thousands of American cabinet jobs.

The three companies’ departure followed the KCMA board’s discussion and rejection of their proposal to immediately cause KCMA to withdraw the scope and anti-circumvention petitions related to Chinese-origin WCV exported from Vietnam and Malaysia into the United States."

As part of the departure, MasterBrand Cabinets immediately canceled its participation at the KCMA Fall Conference, including the plant tour of its Starmark Cabinetry facility and its conference panel session.

Read the statement by Cabinetworks Group, MasterBrand Cabinets and American Woodmark.